Shadow of Reform

Prison Break (Part 1)

The Crystal Empire.

A kingdom forged from the light of purity and harmony, one that had been cursed and vanished into the void, had reappeared.

The Alicorn Princesses were overjoyed that the empire had resurfaced, but could not enjoy this moment of glee for long. For they new that with the return of one of Equestria’s greatest kingdoms… came the return of one of it’s greatest adversaries.

But Celestia had anticipated this, and had been preparing a certain unicorn mare for this moment. One who would become an instrumental figure in the future for Equestria.

And her name, was Twilight Sparkle.

The leader of the Mane Six, a group of six mares all bearing the elements of the Elements of Harmony.

Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter. Applejack, Element of Honesty. Fluttershy, Element of Kindness. Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty. Rarity, Element of Generosity. And finally, Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic.

These six mares later embarked for the Crystal Empire, set on freeing it from it’s curse and preventing Sombra’s return.

After confronting Sombra in his shadow form for the first time, the Mane Six succeeded in entering the Crystal Empire. From there Twilight went about locating the Crystal Heart, the only thing capable of freeing the Empire.

Though faced with multiple obstacles and nearly failing bringing back the Heart. It was Spike who made sure they prevailed in the end.

And with the restoration of the Heart, the magic began to attack Sombra. And with it’s power… destroyed him.

… Or so they thought…

~~~

A pony began to stir.

He shifted what little he could against his restraints.

He was a stallion, a large muscular stallion. His coat was a dark gray and his mane and tail were spiky and colored a deep black, blacker than the shadows cast by the torchlight.

He wore a set of steel pauldrons on his shoulders, held by leather straps criss crossing his chest. He wore chainmail covers on his forearms beneath the pauldrons, as well as brown leather wraps around his thighs and brown leather leg guards with gold-rimmed steel greaves on his hind legs with a knee guard chained to the left greave. He also wore brown leather pteruges around his waist, held up by a red sash and two brown leather belts. And finally he wore red hoofless gloves on his hooves and pale leather bandages wrapped around his lower forelegs with chains wrapping around the bandages.

But his most distinguishing feature was his horn.

Unlike normal unicorn horns, which match the pony’s coat color and are straight and segmented, his horn was curved, smooth, and sharp where it gradiented from blood red to grey and was sharp at the tip.

He slowly began to become more coherent as he slowly but surely opened his eyes, which were a brilliant scarlet with deep scarlet pupils.

They were eyes filled with darkness. Filled with malice. They were the eyes of a tyrant.

They were the eyes of Sombra.

The dark unicorn tried to get up but found himself unable to move. He looked down and noticed a large metal collar around his neck, which was chained to the floor to keep him on his hocks.

He craned his neck as best he could to look to his right, where he saw a long chain anchored to the wall, suspending his foreleg up as he pulled against it in a vain attempt to get free. When that didn’t work he tried it with the other chain but met the same result.

He ceased his struggling to let a pant escape his lips as he looked around.

As he scanned the area he found himself in a large stone cavern, possibly a cave he deduced. And his “floor,” was a large pillar with nothing but a deep dark abyss surrounding it. It’s darkness only emphasized by the torches surrounding the walls of the cavern.

“Well it's about time you woke up” said a deep, raspy voice.

Sombra jumped at the sound and darted his eyes around to locate where it was coming from.

“Oh come on don’t act all surprised… have you really forgotten the sound of my voice?” asked the unknown being. “Well I guess you have been getting one too many blows to the head. But forget about that, right now our company has returned” warned the voice.

Sombra was still unsure of where the voice was coming from, but his thoughts were immediately drawn to the sound of a new voice.

“Hello Sombra…” spoke an unknown being, but the dark unicorn deduced it was a mare from the pitch. “How have you been enjoying your little stay?...” said the gravelly female voice again.

Suddenly a pair of dark gray hooves landed in front of the dark unicorn. He looked up and saw their owner.

It was a tall and skinny dark grey unicorn mare. Her horn and mane were the same as his and she was wearing black and gold shoulder plates which seemed to fit comfortably on her thin and bony shoulders. But what drew his attention most were the black and gold decorated galea helmet with a gold visor that covered her face, and the stump on her right shoulder where her foreleg should have been.

“Hmm? What's wrong? You seemed confused Sombra. Having trouble remembering our special time together?” said the dark unicorn mare as she examined her left hoof…

Right before a shadow manifested around it and formed a four-digit shadowy claw around it. Where she swiped forward and clawed Sombra across the face. And once more with the back of her claw.

“Then again you always did like to make things difficult. You never were one for manners, were you Sombra?” said the unicorn mare as she swiped her claw upwards.

When she did, she inadvertently broke the collar around Sombra’s neck, knocking the stallion backwards before catching himself. And with a grunt, he straightened himself and gripped his chains with his hooves as he glared at the dark unicorn mare with grit teeth, revealing his pronounced fangs.

“But not to worry…” began the dark mare as purple smoke began to leak out from the slits in her visor and the lime-green glow of her eyes shined through. Using dark magic, she manifested four long dark blue tendrils of dark magic, each with a black crystal spear-like tip on each. “I am quite skilled at teaching, respect!” as she aimed the tendrils at the stallion.

Sombra responded by spreading his hind legs and placing his right hind leg behind him and moving his left in front.

The dark mare brought two tendrils back before launching them forward, attempting to impale the stallion. But Sombra shifted to his right and dodged the spears.

She brought another two back and once more tried to skewer her captive. But Sombra ducked and caught his right chain on the tendrils before wrapping it completely around them and began to furiously tug on the chains.

The stallion shouted and grunted as he pulled harder on the chains before the creaking of metal began to sound and ended with him ripping the chain from the wall. Clenching the cuff with his mouth, Sombra ripped it off and brought his hoof back.

Similar to the dark unicorn mare, Sombra’s red eyes began to glow lime-green with purple smoke fuming from their corners as shadows began to manifest around his own hoof, and spread to his whole right foreleg. And using his shadows, Sombra cracked them forward. Whipping the dark mare with his shadows once and again when he brought his leg back, causing the mare to stagger.

“Is that the best you can offer?!” shouted the mare as she struck with her tendrils once more, which again, Sombra dodged and countered with another quick crack of his shadow whip.

As Sombra prepared for another attack, he was struck in the side. The tendril had pierced through his torso, and was bleeding heavily. But yet, somehow, the stallion remained on his hooves and gritted his teeth as the tendril ripped itself out of his side.

Shadowy wisps manifested around his wound and in only a matter of seconds, Sombra’s side was completely healed.

Sombra proceeded with bringing his shadowy foreleg back as far as he could, and with a shout, he brought forward in a downward arc. Completely slamming and bringing his captor to her knees.

“Your rage means nothing!” screamed the dark unicorn mare as she shakily got back to her hooves.

Sombra canceled his shadows and used his free hoof to grip the other chain and with a single heave, ripped the chain out from the wall along with a piece of wall itself, where it precisely struck the mare as it shattered against the side of her helmet.

Now completely free, Sombra manifested shadows in his left hoof and created a curved black crystal blade. Looking back at the disoriented mare, Sombra kicked off his hind legs and stabbed her in the left shoulder.

This caused the two ponies to fall off the pillar and into the darkness below. Their descent being met with the pair crashing into multiple metal and wooden beams as they struggled to fight each other.

As they continued to fall, the dark unicorn mare was strangling Sombra with a tendril of dark magic but let go when Sombra struck her with a hoof to the jaw.

They split, and Sombra somersaulted in the air before landing on all fours with a heavy thud on the ground.

“I will make sure you never leave this place alive… KILL HIM!” the dark unicorn mare commanded as she stopped her fall by using her magic to levitate herself and fly back up from where they came.

Sombra merely glared at her before his attention was drawn to the floor in front of him. They had fallen down deeper into the cavern and into a dark corridor illuminated with the glow of more torches.

And from the walls and floor, Sombra saw puddles of blackness begin to manifest, and through those portals creatures that resembled apes, but were more skeletal and dead looking, began to emerge.

They howled and screeched as they surrounded the stallion. Preparing to attack.

Sombra responded by rising up on his hind legs and crouched low, his legs spread wide, one in front of the other, and manifested a four-digit shadowy claw on each hoof and kept the palms open.

Getting into his stance, Sombra turned to the shadow legions and, with a sinister smile, said:

“Let's go... I'll kill you!”